Imperial and UCL to open Future Cities Centre

A three-year agreement has been signed between Imperial College, UCL and Cisco to
create a centre for research into future cities.

It'll be situated as part of the government's Tech City in London's Shoreditch, with the aim of bringing
world-leading academics and research to the capital. The focus is
on mobility, smart energy systems, business model innovation and
the internet of things, and it'll also be a part of Cisco's
national virtual incubator -- which promotes entrepreneurship by
hooking up physical sites together with IT infrastructure.

New research associates from both Imperial and UCL will populate the new facility, where they'll begin
new work. Among the first to work with the institute will be
Anthony Finkelstein, Dean of UCL Engineering and Professor of
Software Systems Engineering, who commented: "Future cites are
where physical and virtual meet, and the challenges of engineering
at that interface will be among those we hope to address in the
centre, getting this right in the urban environment can change the
world"

John Polak, director of research at the Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering and chairman of the Centre for
Transport Studies at Imperial College added that: "the Future
Cities Centre will be a new research powerhouse to drive the Tech
City initiative. By linking to some of our major research initiatives focused on cities… we will address
key national priorities such as climate change and digital
innovation."

The minister for universities and science, David Willets, said:
"Today's announcement from Cisco, UCL and Imperial that they
are collaborating to establish a Future Cities Centre is very
important for Tech City, and for innovation in the UK more
generally."

He added: "Harnessing the extraordinary power of our research
communities, and the innovation and commercialisation
potential that comes from working with great companies likes
Cisco, holds great potential for growth."